Janie Bryant is a woman who lives in two eras. Lately they’ve been colliding.

In the 1960s, women "understood the importance of dressing up and looking great and taking the time to do that," said Janie Bryant, the costume designer for AMC's "Mad Men." "Maybe at that time, they were trained to do that for their men. For modern women, it's about doing it for ourselves. Our society has gotten so casual, we've lost the art of dressing."

Bryant is the brilliant costume designer behind the acclaimed 1960s-set drama “Mad Men,” one of the sexiest shows on television. The clothing she creates for secretary Joan Holloway (played by the enviably curvy Christina Hendricks) alone has made modern women reconsider the wonders of the bullet bra and the girdle.

Lately, Bryant has been translating the work she does for the Kennedy-era show into a more 21st-century approach to dressing. Her first book, “The Fashion File,” (Grand Central Life & Style, $26.99), came out last fall, following the launch of her new clothing label, Janie Bryant MOD for QVC.

Her spring MOD collection of pencil skirts, a reversible swing jacket, an ostrich-embossed handbag and art deco-like jewelry went on sale Feb. 25. One key piece that caught my eye, a white lace trench coat, was already sold out on the virtual mall’s website a week later.

Bryant will be in New Orleans Saturday for a book signing from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hazelnut boutique. The store is owned by Bryant’s friend, Bryan Batt, who cut a cool figure in her costumes when he played Sal Romano on “Mad Men.” The show wrapped up its fourth season last summer, and it’s unclear when it will return to the air, much to the chagrin of fashion fans, who miss the weekly dip into the drama’s stylized sheath dresses, skinny ties and pencil skirts.

Calling from her home in Los Angeles recently, I asked Bryant what she thinks we could learn today from stylish women of the 1960s.

“Women of that period and those before them understood the importance of dressing up and looking great and taking the time to do that,” she said. “Maybe at that time, they were trained to do that for their men. For modern women, it’s about doing it for ourselves. Our society has gotten so casual, we’ve lost the art of dressing.”

Jon Hamm and January Jones in a scene from 'Mad Men.'

Courtesy of AMC

In her book, Bryant tries to teach that lost art, distilling her approach to costume design, a skill that’s more art than science, and suggesting ways it can be used to help anyone find her own inner “character.”

The charming Bryant, a native of tiny Cleveland, Tenn., was raised by Southern women who loved to dress up. At 5, she already was playing with her mother’s black patent leather pumps and full-length slips. A career in fashion was inevitable.

After graduating from The American College of the Applied Arts in Atlanta, Bryant moved to Paris, then New York, and eventually landed in the fabulous costume closets of Los Angeles.

For her work on “Mad Men” and other shows, she now has a mantel full of Emmy awards and honors from the Costume Designer Guild.

On the phone, we chatted about the book, MOD and her buddy Bryan Batt. An edited version of our conversation follows.

Q: MOD doesn’t seem like a re-airing of your “Mad Men” looks. How is your approach different in designing for real women versus characters on a show?

A: They’re very, very different, Designing a collection is about designing pieces that I love. They can be inspired by any era. I’m not thinking about a character, I’m thinking about what I would want to wear. When I’m designing for a movie or TV show, it’s not about fashion at all. It’s creating a character, how an audience sees a scene and how the actor is transformed through the clothes. I’m so pleased that the “Mad Men” costumes have caught on in fashion, but that was not my focus.

Q: Why do the mid-century styles still resonate?

A: I think the 1950s and early ’60s silhouettes are the most classic. They have maintained for all those decades, because people have such nostalgia for that period, the Camelot period. They know it, even if they didn’t live through it. They’re garments you could wear casually or dress up, and they’re very versatile for a contemporary lifestyle.

I think the most beautiful skirt is the 1950s pencil skirt, the long one, worn with a tiny jacket with a collar. I love that look because it’s so tailored and flattering on anybody.

I think that may be why the show became so popular for its design. We’re so casual today, but people still crave that polish. Women and men. Most men today have lost the knowledge of good fit, the importance of tailoring. They always go too big because they want to be comfortable. I can take any man, any size, and make him look gorgeous in a suit.

Q: Bryan Batt says that all the time.

A: He’s so sweet, and he looked great in those suits.

Q: How much of that great fit, for women at least, comes from the right undergarments?

A: I’m addicted to shapewear and intimate apparel. I’m Maidenform’s brand ambassador. If men today have lost the knowledge of good tailoring, then women have lost the knowledge of great shapewear, and its importance for making your clothing look and fall correctly. You don’t need a girdle, but the right shapewear can make you look great.

Q: You seem to live with one foot in fashion’s past. If you could personally live in any era, which would it be?

A: Oh, I love so many, that’s such a hard question. I vacillate between the baroque period and the Victorian period. I would wear a gown every day of my life if I could.